Birch V2

[Nylocke]

Don't have a lot of very good pictures right now, Ill take some more later and post them.

Latest Picture of the beast

Completed base

Azteeg X3 Pro mounted in place of the RAMBo

Wishful thinking

I have an Azteeg X3 Pro and Kraken to be mounted.

I modified some of the cut files to make space for 3 EZstuders mounted from the top, as well as mount the controller in the same spot the RAMBo fits in. I'm using a Prusa Heatbed Mk2A instead of the Onyx because of price and heat times. I'm getting a custom mount of my design for it cut out tonight. Other goodies to come

[crocky]

Interesting

Be nice to see how it goes, multi colours sound nice..

[Nylocke]

I was at my local Makerspace yesterday getting the bed plate cut out. Our 40W isn't powerful enough/calibrated enough to cut 1/4, so I had to use some 1/8" plywood. Counting on the glass to remain flat

Bed plate getting cut out

Lasers!

I'm going to mount the bed+plate tonight and do/redo some wiring now that I found my ferules. Waiting for some parts to come in from SeeMe, the bearing covers, then I can finish it and get it running.

I used MHackeny's Kraken mount, looks and works great, though I have no clue how I'm going do route the wires from the hotends to the silicone tubing. More pictures to come tonight!

[Mac The Knife]

You could have cut two pieces out of 1/8th, and then epoxy the two together,,,,,

[Nylocke]

I was going to do that, but it was 11 at night and I still had to go out to eat

[Nylocke]

Some good news and some not so good news. I got all the cheapskates mounted, as well as the bed, and I've begun threading the belts

Cheapskates and Bed mounted

I used some printed spacers and cams, $1 per each one seems really expensive to me :/

Printed spacers

Cheapskates with printed spacers and cams

They turned out pretty good, printed in Bridge. Work just like the injection molded ones.

Also got some more wiring done/redone. Got the Viki LCD's SD card reader working too.

Azteeg X3 Pro wiring (ignore the loose extra extruder wires)

and the top wiring that I did a week ago

Top wiring all done, ready for LEDs

So now for the bad news;

I tried trimming one of the M3 bolts that I mounted my bed with with a pair of larger side cutters, but I couldn't generate enough force to cut through it, so I had to drill the top of the bolt off to replace it, but while drilling, it slipped and I ended up tearing a bit into the bed. The damage wasn't that bad, it didn't go all the way though, more of a scrape, but it was deep enough to completely cut off half of the power to the bed (MK2b dual power). Looks like I'll have to earn enough money for a new one :/

In the meantime I am using my garolite sheet I have, looks like my first prints will be in nylon. Oh well.

Garolite bed

[Nylocke]

I got all the belts run and the cheapskates on and the wiring all done, but I can't seem to get a working firmware config. I have tried to make a new config of both Marlin and Repetier, but neither want to work. Also having a lot of Viki issues with Repetier, I don't particularly like the way it was programmed...

I can compile Repetier and I can probably get it running, but the LCD config really bothers me, especially since I only ever print/operate the printer via the LCD.

I like the way Marlin uses the Viki, it doesn't change the interface or control scheme, but I can't get it to compile with the delta config file, it gives me a bunch of errors :/

I'll probably just suck it up and use Repetier.

[teoman]

I had ideas very close to yours, buy some elctronics and some motors, and laser cut some parts etc...

But having failed at a reprap at 99 percent because of the running around i discovered that it is much more efficient and less expensive considering the fuel money and postage etc.. to buy a kit and go from there.
I would only attempt to do what you did as my 2nd or 3rd printer.

So i am very curious, what motivated you to do this?

[Nylocke]

My Ultimaker (also self sourced) wasn't performing as well as I would have liked (low quality components) and to get the higher quality ones (new ACME leadscrew, new 12mm Linear rods, new bearings, etc) it would have been as or more expensive than to just buy brand new high quality parts for the V2 MAX, which has a bigger volume and other wonderful and desirable things.

I saw the opportunity (wanted a RMAX since I first built a V1 for a previous employer) to finally get one, so I took it. I had the X3 Pro and Kraken already, as well as 5 motors and everything else I needed for the electronics side of things. I have a friend with a laser cutter and he let me use some of his 1/4" birch to cut out all the parts I needed, though I had to redesign the top (so I can mount 3 EZs, and to account for the plywood being a bit less than 1mm thinner than the melamine).

Ive had the parts sitting in my room for a bit until I was able to do a job on MakeXYZ that gave me enough to buy the injection molded parts from SeeMe, and then the hardware from McMaster. I bought an 8" length of T-slot off of McMaster and cut it into 3rds, which was the perfect length (32" each). Ultibots sells GT2 belt for real cheap, and I don't think its any lesser quality than anywhere else (though we shall see). I got 6m of belt for $16, compared to $54 off of Ultimachine or $64 from SeeMe. That is my weakest link on this build, and I hope it doesn't break (literally)

[Nylocke]

I thought I'd post some more pics since Ive gotten more done. Overview of what I've accomplished:

Most recent setup

The kraken has been mounted on the effector since the day I got it, been anticipating this thing together for weeks

Top of the Kraken

I only have 2 of the required 4 stepper motors for the extruders, so for right now I'll only have 2 running.

2 of the 4 are setup

I wanted the right EZstruder to face me, as to be able to see the gear turning/access to the gear to manually feed filament, so I have to route filament through the SeeMe eyes

Havent gotten to a print yet, still have to level the machine. First print will be in Bridge since the aforementioned bed break. Good thing garolite is so coolio.

[Nylocke]

I just leveled the machine. Oh boy I got lucky, apparently my delta radius is exactly 130 (unless my firmware is horribly screwed up, which could be possible lol). I probably will try out a print soon here.

[Nylocke]

Got my first print done. Had to restart it once because it was a tiny bit too high off the bed. I'm going to get a dial indicator to accurately level the machine later, but for now I think it works fine. Bridge doest like sticking to Garolite as much as 618 and 645 it seems...

First layer

Finished Print!

My bridge is a bit wet, so the pillars didn't form very well because of bubbling/warping. The top wasn't that great either, but considering it didn't slow down or cool head lift (new Cura profile, forgot to enable that, oops) it wasn't too bad.

[Nylocke]

[youtube] http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NLt9cCT5QqI [/youtube]

Video of the print (time-lapse for speed of watching)

[Nylocke]

I'm going to design a fan mount compatible with Mhackney's Kraken Konnector for my PLA prints. Having issues with the PLA staying too toasty and bridging poorly.

[BONE]

That thing is sexy, love the Birch wood. You have me dreaming of a second machine.

[geneb]

I would have made the round plates from 12mm material.

g.

[Nylocke]

Thanks I think I might stain it a bit later in its years. It really does look quite nice, and the great thing is the Birch doesn't get damages corners as easy as the Melamine The white and black do look rather professional though, I will give you that.

[Nylocke]

Ive been working on getting a second one of the Kraken hotends online. I got the thermistor in place, I just have to get the extension wires hooked up from the thermocouple wire. Will post pictures when that is done. I also have an idea in the works for a nice layer fan mount. I have 2 squirrel cage fans, a bit larger than the one included with the V2 kit, I think I can mount one without it interfering with the prints (vibrations).

[Nylocke]

I finally bothered to learn OpenSCAD and I created this nice little mount for this Squirrel Fan mount.

Squirrel Fan Mount

Mounts the fan pretty securely, not a lot of flex (all things considering)

Alternate View

I plan to wire it up soon.

[Nylocke]

The fan works great! On layer 2 the temp drops a bit when the fan turns on, but only 5 degrees. I printed a Marvin keychain and it looks pretty great. A few minor (more noticeable at certain angles) misalignments, but that was because I was messing with the silicone tubing.

Marvin

The picture doesn't quite do it justice. For .2mm its is beautiful. A few tiny tiny issues with it, but thats all material issues. I love this printer, and I'm very satisfied with SeeMe's design. Thank you John and Steve, and thank you Gene for making such a comprehensive build manual

[Nylocke]

I got my second hotend wired up, but for some reason I can't get the extruder to move. I'm pretty sure I have it wired up correctly, I really don't know why it won't move...

I tried first on the LCD, but when I spin the encoder, it stays at 0. If I try through Repetier (Cura won't connect to a Repetier based machine :/) it sounds like its trying to move (the frequency of the sound coming from the motor changes) but it doesn't. I know its a good motor, I've used it countless hours before. Maybe I got the pairs wrong...

[Nylocke]

Well, turns out the EPROM was setup incorrectly. Also explains why the extruder is horrible at staying at temp...

[Nylocke]

Doing my first dual extrusion tests today. I have Cura set up. Figuring out the correct retract settings as well as the proper offset values.

Dual Extrusion Print!

Based on whats printed so far, I think I have the offset values a bit off. I'm going to operate under the assumption that my primary (front right) nozzle is correct (probably isn't 100% but its what I wasn't to go on), so I must adjust the secondary (rear right) to the left a tiny bit, though I may be under extruding a tad, causing the gap.

Side View

Print+Wipe/Prime Tower

I'm going to try increasing the steps per mm on E1 and ill see what that does.

[Nylocke]

I increased the steps, and it helped, but it was still a bit off. I tried adjusting the X position of the second hotend in firmware in what I thought was the logical direction, negative, to what I thought would be the left. For some reason if I decrease the x offset, it seems to move the E1 part farther from the E0 part. This seems backwards to me, but after increasing the value, it seems to be right in the right spot. Confusing to me, but who am I to argue with results. Maybe when I add the other 2 nozzles to the mix things will make more sense...

One Continuos Part :D

Alright, I have a dual extrusion setup

[Nylocke]

I ordered the Onyx Rev7 and it arrived today. Got it all soldered and everything and I mounted it on my machine.

Soldering the Thermistor

I had a spare EPCOS 100k thermistor laying around so I used it (its larger and the leads are thicker) instead of the included NTC 100k thermistor.

Thermistor in place

I miss the way they did R3(?)-R6, with the 2 LEDs. I liked the hotend status LED. Oh well.

LED in place

All mounted up

Its all mounted up! I still have to plug everything into the X3 Pro, which I will do tomorrow night. Looks pretty nice, though now I am really nervous about breaking that glass... Garolite is nearly indestructible on a 3D printer, and slamming the hotend into it wasn't horrible (not that I've ever done that...)

Hooray ABS, Bridge, and T-Glase! More options!